Our Story

2006 - 2011

The development journey begins

In NSW, Australia, the son of a pork producer and sheep grazier developed an idea for a solution to carry out weight-based dosing. This initial idea sparked a journey that would see David Edwards develop one of the first ever weight-based dosing systems for the livestock industry.

With the original concept focused mainly on the sheep industry, David worked on a solution that would connect with an existing scale head. The solution was a power-driven delivery device with an in-built RFID reader.

However, this journey would not be easy. Even though David had a great vision, his first attempts resulted in a product that had a viable design but was ultimately too expensive and ahead of its time.

Not discouraged in the least, David decided to keep pursuing his idea until he found a viable solution that was more cost-effective to produce. This idea would go on to become automed.

2012 - 2013

A new company is formed

In September of 2012, David was faced with an unusual opportunity that allowed him to focus entirely on automed. Together with his wife, Samira Davoodi, he founded Davoodi Pty Ltd, later to be known as automed Inc.

David and Sami set out on the long journey of developing automed. During late 2012 to early 2013, David focused on completing the development of the first version of the automed system, and in early 2013 filed the first of many patents.

In March 2013, David presented the automed system to a major pharmaceutical company in Sydney. A senior veterinarian for the company commented to David, 'I don't think you realize what you have developed.' automed was first conceived as a weight-based dosing system with little data recording to ensure the farmer was aware of which animals had been dosed, how large the dose was, and to provide a record of their weight.

This vet saw the value, not in weight-based dosing, but the automatic recording. These famous words proved to be a turning point for automed, and the focus of the company changed, enabling automed to become the first ever automatic medication delivery system with data recording.

In 2017, this veterinarian joined the automed team as their first non-executive director.

2014

Let the trials begin

With a complete change in focus in 2013, automed entered into 2014 with a new sense of purpose, and a drive like no other. With a new concept and the development of the split-adapter system underway, our focus turned to two projects: a simple data capture application, and the hardware device.

One of the big advantages David had was his family's sheep farm. This allowed David to work closely with his brother Phillip Edwards, who became the first livestock producer to use automed in a commercial environment.

With the trials of the hardware underway, David was hard at work updating and fixing the design to get it commercially ready. The first units ever produced were 3D printed and successfully injected 4,500 animals.

These 3D printed units were vital in the development process, as they allowed David to tweak the design and ensure proper ergonomics.

2015

Commercial release of automed

In mid-2015, automed completed its first batch of 10 units, ready for final trials and testing. With a successful trial and design assessment, the AM05-MD delivery device and adapter were ready for production.

During the last quarter of 2015, we carried out a production setup of 100 units for our first commercial release.

With a release into the market in early 2016, an idea that started in 2006 had finally become a reality. We had finally arrived.

2016

International award-winning system

2016 was a big year for automed as we not only launched into the Australian market but also founded automed USA to launch our product into North America. Our company started to grow with the first full-time employees joining the team, and it wasn’t long before we were gaining international recognition through distribution partners, customers, and awards.

In fact, automed broke records when we won three awards at the 2016 National iAwards for Innovation in ICT: National Mobility Innovation of the Year, National Industrial & Primary Industries of the Year, and Victorian Government Inspiration of the Year.

This led us to represent Australia at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards in Taipei, where we took home the top prize for Industry Application.

2017

Partnerships & progress

2016 saw automed burst onto the scene. 2017 was about continuing to grow the company to match demand and finding more partners to help us reach our vision for the livestock industry. We have been fortunate to strike partnership deals with leaders in the industry like Think Livestock, Neogen, and UFA Co-Operative; whose experience and influence will help establish automed as the leader in livestock medication delivery.

In 2017 we also released new large volume and intranasal adapters for the automed device. Our adapter range now has a solution for every need, particularly when you consider that with automed a single treatment can be split across more than one dose.

On the software side we are continuing to develop AIM – automed Inventory Management, to provide producers with the most feature-rich and user-friendly system to manage their operations.

With over 250,000 successful doses completed, an ever-growing national and international customer base, and increasing awareness of the importance of making medicating animals easier and more efficient, automed goes from strength-to-strength.